Garth Snow and Shannon Hogan on the pre-game regarding the trade deadline deals he made without anyone leaking information.
Chad was a good goalie and a great guy in the locker room, but we had to do what we had to do.” Garth thinks this team is his best bet to get close to the Stanley Cup. He had to make that trade in bring in a goalie they could count on. Michael Neuvirth, recently fined for diving, is now an Islander.
“He’s a big athletic, strong kid, whose stats are excellent on a team that has been struggling. In the last 30 days he’s been one of the hottest goalies in the league. He controls his rebounds. He’s efficient in the net. For me he’s a goalie that we are going to lean on down the stretch to give Jaro a rest and get ready for the playoffs.”
Normally I would have been nervous on deadline day, but not this year. I knew there were no big trades for the Isles and no shake-up needed. Johnny Boychuk may have family in Edmonton, but he is enjoying Long Island and the chemistry he has with this team. No. 55 has a home here with the Isles, he should tell his agent when Garth is ready, make the deal. He’ll be key in playoffs.
As for Tyler Kennedy, Garth remembers him as hard to play against and a challenge to defend on the Pens. Kennedy practiced with the Isles in the morning and was supposed to be in the line-up, but it was announced last minute that he had “an upper body injury” leading to many jokes about how that happened. It was also noted that with the trade deadline, there wasn’t time for physicals. Art Staple noted it didn’t seem as if the Isles would attempt to void the contract. We’ll see if it was just Jack thinking Kennedy wasn’t ready. Kael Moillierat stayed in the line-up
The puck dropped in Dallas and two minutes into the game, Matt Martin is ejected. Dallas’s Trevor Daley was splayed by Matt Martin in an awkward fashion. Daley seemed okay, but was questionable to return. The refs decided that was “kneeing” and tossed Matt. Stars had a five minute power play for that one. Considering where the Stars are in the standings, they can use all the help they can get. But Matty Marts? Really?
It was a good test for the Isles PK, even if it was against Dallas. They killed off the full five minutes and ended up getting a power play of their own with a little more than six minutes left of the first. Isles had a few good chances during the power play, but Josh Bailey scored on the Dallas doorstep four seconds after the power play ended.
Would the Isles give up a goal in the last minute of the period? Seems to be their MO. With Anders Lee getting a two minute penalty for goaltender interference with 1:11 left, it seemed inevitable. They managed to hit the locker room still up by one.
The PK had some more practice when Clutterbuck tossed a puck over the glass and got to sit for two minutes for it. Halak came up big and for them. But no sooner did they come back from the commercial break, they were shorthanded again as Hickey was called for delay of game for hitting the puck over the glass with a high stick. Special teams wanted some work, but not this much. There was 1:24 left of the second and the teams were back at full strength. John Tavares was trying to make some magic around the Dallas net, but the clock ran down and the buzzer sounded.
Brock Nelson’s helmet seems too tight. He spoke with Shannon during the second intermission about the PK. He called it a momentum builder. The Isles had 20 more minutes to see if he was right.
At 17:36 of the third, the Dallas Stars tied the score at one with a Brett Richie shot to the left of Halak. They had to make it interesting. I blame Butchie. So did Jiggs. At 12:32 of the third when Fiddler scored the Star’s second goal, he chided Butch “The team who can’t score in the third just scored two.”
Isles were given a power play at the 12:07 mark to even things up. Despite some great set up attempts by JT, the Isles Power Play couldn’t pull it off.
With 3:22 left to play, Strome was sent to the box for slashing even though he was being sat on. Another Stars power play opportunity. Isles PK back to school. To even things out, Richie gets a slashing penalty on Leddy at 2:42. As Art Staple called it “Weakest make-up call ever.”
An empty Isles net made the last minute or so interesting as the Isles had to keep going 200 feet to retrieve the puck. Certainly that isn’t what they wanted to do. This is only the first of four road games. Certainly they wanted a good showing.
With 1.1 second remaining, Anders Lee, the NHL rookie of the month, beat the buzzer to tie the score at two. One point for the Isles as they headed to overtime. Butch got a reprieve and Hickey almost got a goal. But nope. Just clanged off the post. Strome turned over the puck and Cody Eakin scored to end the game and give the Stars the second point.
New York Islanders Blogger • 
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